Detections
Analytics

3.6 Host should deactivate SNMP

Information

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) facilitates the management of networked devices. Minimize attack surface by disabling non-essential services. The recommended setting is to have the SNMP service stopped unless required and configured securely.

Deactivating SNMP when it's not needed reduces the attack surface, adhering to a minimalistic approach in service operation.

Solution

- Disable SNMP when not required with:
esxcli system snmp set --enable false

If SNMP is required, restrict targets/communities, prefer secure SNMP configurations supported by the environment, and limit the ESXi firewall ruleset to authorized management networks.

Impact:

While there isn't a direct functional impact, the absence of SNMP may require alternative methods for network management and monitoring.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/28124

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6, 800-53|CM-7, CSCv7|9.2

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 6e2f652a4befe6ad7b17c3dabb748bd56b33a00840a90796c027535905d0c0d0